NOTE: There will be a New Generations gathering, for people in their 20s and 30s, at Temple Israel at 6:30 pm, immediately before the main lecture.  Click here to register for the New Gen pre-party.

Click here to register for the main lecture.

Anat Hoffman, Executive Director of NIF grantee the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) since 2002, has guided it in its work to promote Jewish pluralism, tolerance, and equality and to combat racism, corruption, and religious coercion. She expanded IRAC’s mission to go beyond the courts and the Knesset and to help people directly through social action.

Born in Jerusalem, Anat served in the army and as a Jerusalem City Councilwoman for 14 years, representing the Civil Rights and Peace Movement. She studied at UCLA and Bar Ilan University, and has dedicated her adult life to the Jewish principle of tikkun olam.

Anat was a founding member of Women of the Wall, and she served on the boards of the Israel Women’s Network, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and many other Israeli organizations for social change. She has led battles for the right of women to pray at the Western Wall, for women's equal pay for equal work, and for the provision of adequate municipal services for the more than 200,000 Palestinian residents of Jerusalem.

Click here for parking information and for directions to Temple Israel.

This event is part of Temple Israel's "Learn, Debate, Engage" series
and is co-sponsored by the New Israel Fund and J Street Boston.

New Visions: Israel’s Emerging Changemakers 

The New Israel Fund is proud to present a series showcasing a new generation of changemakers who are rising to meet the challenges facing Israeli democracy today.
65 years after the founding of the State of Israel, a determined group of young thinkers and activists are breathing new life into Israel’s Declaration of Independence; reviving the spirit, reclaiming the vision, and reasserting the values of Israel’s founders.

Join us for the first of this multi-part series, launching on the morning of Yom Haatzmaut.

I. ReThinking Israel
Tuesday April 16, 8:15am, NIF Office RSVP Here

Think tanks like Shaharit: The Think Tank for New Israeli Politics are emerging to reinvigorate and mobilize the development of a new vision for democracy and equality in Israel. Come celebrate Yom Haatzmaut by joining thought leader Dr. Eilon Schwartz of Shaharit as he explains the function of think tanks in the renewal of Israel’s progressive sector, 65 years after Israel's founding.

Dr. Eilon Schwartz is the Founding Director of Shaharit: The Think Tank for New Israeli Politics.  Shaharit brings together a wide spectrum of Israelis from its many communities, together articulating and advocating for ideas and policies in which all may flourish. He until recently served as the Founding and Executive Director of The Heschel Center, the leading leadership and capacity building organization in Israel for a sustainable future.

II. Pressing for Change
Save the Date: Tuesday May 22, 7pm, Location TBD

Join NIF Law Fellows Samar Qudha Tannous and Carmel Pomerantz in conversation around how the legal system is creating and fostering social change in Israeli civil society. The New Israel Fund’s Israel-U.S. Civil Liberties Law Program was described by the Israeli daily Ha’aretz as one of the “crucial decisions [that] have changed the face of public law in Israel.”

NIF and Hazon welcomes Jay Shofet, Director of the Green Environment Fund (an NIF grantee), to speak on the presence of environmental consciousness in Israel’s current political climate, ongoing ecological issues the country faces, and how Israeli innovators are spurring sustainable development techniques to combat challenges across the globe.

The Green Environment Fund (GEF) is a unique consortium of funders (including NIF) that are guided by Jewish and humanitarian values to bring new attention and resources to preserve and protect the environment of Israel and the health of its people. Among other achievements, the GEF has most recently been fundamental in dramatically reshaping the Israeli government’s harmful Planning Reform Bill, championing the safety and rights of Israel’s environment and public.

Prior to his work with the GEF, Jay served as the Director of the Religious Pluralism Project and of Resource Development Consultation at SHATIL, the New Israel Fund's Empowerment and Training Center for social change organizations in Israel. He recently finished a third term on the executive board for the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism.

The GEF New Generations Salon is co-sponsored by Hazon.

RSVP here.  Questions can be directed to Orlee Rabin, Bay Area Director for New Generations, NIF @ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The New Israel Fund's Legal Circle Presents:

A CLE breakfast briefing for the NY legal community
with Professor Kent Greenawalt of Columbia Law School and Itamar Mann of Yale Law School

Join NIF's Legal Circle in conversation with Professor Kent Greenawalt and Itamar Mann to explore religion and state issues in the U.S. and Israel. Topics include:
The constitutional frameworks of Israel and the US relating to religion
How both countries respond and relate to religious minority groups
Specific cases that illustrate issues of shared burden, marriage equality, and freedom of conscience.

When: Wednesday, April 24th, 8:30am-10:00am
Where: White & Case LLP International Law Firm, 1155 Avenue of the Americas
Cost: $25 CLE Credit/$10 No CLE Credit
RSVP here

**This program qualifies for 1.5 CLE credit hours (approval pending)**
**Lawyers seeking CLE credit must RSVP in advance to receive readings** 

 
Itamar Mann is a scholar and practitioner of human rights. His recent scholarship includes The Dual Foundation of Universal Jurisdiction and The Necessity Procedure: Laws of Torture in Israel and Beyond, 1987 – 2009 (with Omer Shatz). In 2010-2011, Itamar was awarded Yale Law School’s Bernstein Fellowship for Human Rights. His cases in the Supreme Court of Israel challenged due process violations in security-related procedures, deportations, and administrative detention. He co-founded an Israeli NGO called Anu Plitim (“We Refugees”), providing pro-bono representation for asylum seekers. Mr. Mann's areas of interest are international law, procedure, immigration, and legal theory.

 
Kent Greenawalt is a University Professor at Columbia. Before joining the faculty in 1965, Professor Greenawalt was law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice John M. Harlan and was an attorney with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights in Jackson, Mississippi. From 1966 to 1969, Professor Greenawalt served on the Civil Rights Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and was a member of the Due Process Committee of the American Civil Liberties Union from 1969 to 1971. Mr. Greenawalt's main interests are in constitutional law and jurisprudence, with special emphasis on church and state, freedom of speech, legal interpretation, and criminal responsibility.